Steps urged to check forced marriages

CHITRAL, April 25: In a seminar on ‘the repercussions of the forced marriage of Chitrali poor girls in Southern districts’ under the aegis of Human Rights Program Chitral (HRCP) held here, the speakers stressed drastic measures to arrest the trend which jeopardizes the whole life of the poor young girls. Those who addressed the seminar included former judge of Supreme Court Javed Iqbal and former judge of Lahore High Court Justice Nasira Javed Iqbal. They said the situation was likely to take a horrendous turn which made them to travel to Chitral and meet the stakeholders to find ways and means to drive the weaker sex of the morass they had fallen into. The society of Chitral was of conservative nature which had many controversies in its essence and all this led to compound the problems for the women folk in Chitral which is substantiated by the steeply rising number of suicides of young women here, they said. The speakers expressed their astonishment that held for the protection of women, not a single woman had been invited to the venue which is a matter of concern and shows the plight of women. If the women are made to work openly in the fields engaged in farming, then why they are not allowed to the venue of meeting, they questioned and said that the men folk should also relieve them. The speakers were of the view that the adoption of new and enlightened approach to the new social problem as enunciated the philosopher poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal will lead the society to the era of prosperity and progress. They announced to contribute for the funds to establish a trust for the welfare of the women for their economic emancipation so that poverty should act as a cause for the suicide of women. Niaz A Niazi, the chairman of HRCP and Imtiaz Ahmed manage of Regional Women Empowerment Project of AKRSP, presented reports about the plight of women folk in the area who are duped in one way or the other. They added that during the last seven years, as many as 2860 cases were detected in which the young women had been duped in the name of marriage.–Zahiruddin]]>